Change is part and parcel of life. Today the employment market is so fluid that when one decides to switch companies or even careers, people hardly batter an eyelid. However, when Hadley Stern decided to cross over from Fidelity Investment over to a small startup, people did notice.

The obvious reason for the surprise being that Hadley has been part of the team for nearly seventeen years. He was the architect of Fidelity Investment’s digital assets division and the chief driving force behind its nascent thrust into the cryptomarket. For the last four years he had ably led their Blockchain Incubator, thus some were taken aback by this change.

In a recent interview, Hadley Stern commented on this, stating,

“Those announcements are most certainly a capstone atop a wonderful, seventeen-year career at Fidelity. In moving to Bloq, I not only seek to not only explore blockchain technology more deeply, but also its myriad applications in industries outside of financial services,”

Hadley will now be part of the management group at Bloq, a Blockchain enterprise software startup. He will take the mantle of the COO (chief operating officer), a role specifically created for him. No doubt, he will be expected to lead the charge as the little startup gears up for growth.

In an honest conversation, Hadley noted that he simply couldn't miss the chance to work with a company that was clearly focused on “the tokenization of things for every industry,” which to him was “beyond tempting.” This coupled with the fact that he already knew the founders of Bloq, Jeff Garzik and Matthew Roszak and had a good working relationship with them, having worked together on previous projects together.

In an official release, a Fidelity spokeswoman discussed the latest developments and the company's focus on the launch of their Digital Assets.

“Katie Chase is now spearheading Blockchain Incubator at Fidelity Center for Applied Technology and has been[part of the team] for several months,”

she added. To address any concerns of brain-drain she further clarified,

“Fidelity has always been an attractive workplace destination and now that we’re public with Fidelity Digital Assets, we’ve seen a significant uptick in interest from talent in the crypto community.”

Still, this change has been at a less than ideal moment as Fidelity moves into the critical phase of deploying its new cryptocurrency trade execution and custody platform. On a parting note, Hadley commended Fidelity’s direction and focus. He says the new crypto business “will help provide key infrastructure for onboarding the next wave of institutions into this new asset class.” A comment that sounds more genuine than theatrics.

This change reflects the clear pull that the blockchain sphere has. If nothing it shows the capability of even blockchain startups to pull top class talent.

A sentiment echoed by the co-founder of Bloq, Matthew Roszak, when he stated:

“As the shared surface area between conventional enterprises and the world of cryptocurrency expands, there is absolutely no better partner than Hadley for this role as we pursue continued, rapid growth in our business.”

Discussing the roadmap for the young enterprise, Hadley discussed his ideas. He stresses that the initial focus will have to be,

“on growth and the delivery of innovative products and services to the Fortune 50 and the Crypto 50, in addition to the innovations that spin out of Bloq Labs.”

While still a fair way away from being a major player it is clear that the blockchain is here to stay. The disruption to traditional financial institutions continues to gain steam as more and more cryptocurrencies gain a foothold in the market. The signs are further encouraging when one sees the vote of confidence espoused by industry stalwarts like Hadley or when Matthew is invited as a featured speaker at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas.

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